SI.com’s Rob Stanger says there’s plenty of blame and questionable decisions for everyone including SI senior writer Michael Bamberger, caddie Greg Johnston, and tour officals.

I saw Anna Sorenstam’s televised conversation regarding line of sight, and at the time it seemed like it was going on for a lot longer than it should. Stanger explains it…

All of the players at Bighorn Golf Club, playing on a desert course, were calling for rulings. Even tournament champion Annika Sorenstam had a heated debate Saturday with tour official Robert Smith on national TV about free relief from a scoreboard. Sorenstam’s incident told me that the world’s No. 1 women’s player has a limited knowledge concerning the rules. Line of sight relief is so elementary and Annika should know that rule since it cost her the 2003 U.S. Open at Pumpkin Ridge.

… I attended the event at Big Horn and witnessed Michelle making several infractions to the rules… Under rule 20-2a, the player needs to extend the arm out at shoulder height and drop the ball… Michelle’s arm is angled downward while making her controversial drop. It not only happened in this particular drop that led to her disqualification, but several others throughout the tournament.

… Wie’s knowledge of the game was called into question at the 2003 U.S. Open when playing partner Danielle Ammaccapane accused Wie of walking in her putting line during the first round. Wie and Ammaccapane exchanged words after the round.

Even the best players, Stanger surmises, do not have a clear grasp of the rules of the game.

SI.com: The Blame Game

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 18th, 2005 at 10:05 am and is filed under Annika Sorenstam, Caddie Shuffle, LPGA Tour, Sportswriters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed or . You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.